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Posts Tagged ‘cats’

Coney Island Boardwalk Cats Project’s First Effort Rescues 28 Cats

Posted in Animals, tagged Boardwalk Cats, Brooklyn Rescue Umbrella, cats, Coney Island, Coney Island Boardwalk Cats Project, Josie Marrero, Pet Day, TNR, Trap-Neuter-Return on June 14, 2014| 1 Comment »

Coney Island Boardwalk Cats banner painted by Marie Roberts

Look for the Coney Island Boardwalk Cats Project on Pet Day at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, June 14, on the Boardwalk under this beautiful banner painted by Marie Roberts. Stop by their tent on the Boardwalk across from the Wonder Wheel to learn how this new group of volunteers is helping the feral and stray cat population of Coney Island.

The T of TNR: Coney Island Boardwalk Cats Project first rescue trapping. June 8, 2014 Photo © Tricia Vita

The Coney Island Boardwalk Cats Project is just winding up a very successful first week of TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) rescue trapping. Beginning last Sunday, 28 cats were trapped, with 20 sent to the ASPCA’s Glendale facility for spaying and neutering.

“Thank you to everyone who made this possible,” said Josie Marrero, founder of the Coney Island Boardwalk Cats Project. “Drivers, trappers, brain stormers, those very special ladies who helped get the clinic appointment, Wheels of Hope Guides. The cats need us all working together so they can have a chance at a better life! The work is just beginning. We have 15 clinic spots for July. Hopefully, that number will also go up to 24.”

This pregnant cat will be fostered and get veterinary care while she has her kittens. June 8, 2014. Photo © Tricia Vita

The majority of the cats have now been returned (the R in TNR) to their Boardwalk colonies after a few days of being cared for by CIBC volunteers in donated recovery space in Borough Park. The building, which is a garage, is in the process of being sold and a new recovery space is needed after July for the group to be able to continue their work. (more…)

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Traveler: The Cats of Rimini’s Italia in Miniatura Park

Posted in amusement park, Animals, Travel, video, tagged cats, Italia in Miniatura on May 8, 2013| 2 Comments »

The departure of Target the Coney Island Cat from Jimmy’s Balloon Dart on the Bowery for a new life in Las Vegas has left the People’s Playground without a cat mascot. It got us thinking about Italia in Miniatura, a theme park in Rimini, Italy, where a colony of cats have made themselves at home amid the tourist attraction’s 273 miniature reproductions of Italy’s monuments, churches, piazzas and landscapes.

Fed and cared for by the Rambaldi family, who own the park, the cats have appeared on calendars and starred in this 2008 film. This is not trick photography — the park’s scale models are the playground of the cats, whose names are Premuroso, Zuccherina, Pastrichio, Vittorio Emanuele, Oxford and Stu. “A thoroughly weird tour of Italy from a giant cat´s perspective,” writes Russell Bekins, who shot and edited “Italian Holiday” over a three-year period.

Several years ago, after meeting Bekins at the IAAPA convention, we first learned about Italia in Miniatura and its cats and did a story on Europe’s miniature parks for IAAPA’s Funworld Magazine. In addition to the scale models and landscaping, the park also features an interactive driving school for children, a water cannon ride featuring a replica of Rimini’s medieval castle, and other novel attractions.